User blog:Hadova-M/Tutorial: get sprites out of Elona easily!
This tutorial shows a couple of easy ways to get good-quality sprites out of Elona for use in the wiki (good quality= PNG with transparent background). To follow this tutorial, all you need is a raster-image editing program with a selection tool (e.g. Photoshop, Fireworks, GIMP etc.) Support for grids and index transparency are helpful but optional. (For alternative methods, check out the Comments section.) Opening the source file First we want to get the same source file that Elona itself is using to display the sprite in the game. :*Character sprite: your-elona-install\graphic\''character.bmp :*Item sprite: ''your-elona-install\graphic\''item.bmp :*Portrait: ''your-elona-install\graphic\''face1.bmp Next, open the source file (in this case, character.bmp) in your favorite image editor. At this point, you can also enable grids if your program supports it. If not, you can download this premade 48x48px grid (align it to the top left of the image) ''Original character.bmp spritesheet with and without the 48x48px grid :;Fireworks :*View -> Grid -> Show Grid (Ctrl+Alt+G), Snap to Gird (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+G) :*Edit -> Preferences -> Guides and Grids (Grid settings: 48x48) :;Photoshop :*View -> Show -> Grid (Ctrl+') :*Edit -> Preferences -> Guide, Grid and Slices: Gridline every 48 pixels (subdivision=1) Sprite preparation Finding the sprite There are nearly a thousand sprites on the source image, so finding the one you need could take some time. There are 33 sprites in one row, and 25 rows altogether. Sprites for more recent creatures tend to be near the bottom of the image. If you already know the sprite ID either from the wiki or from the game itself, you can use this premade set of spriteID labels (align it to the top left of the image). The grid and SpriteID labels make it easy to find a particular sprite. Cutting the sprite Crop the image to contain just the sprite, or use the rectangular select (Marquee) tool around your target sprite and copy it into an new document. Grids are a big help here, especially if you turned on Snap: Selecting a single sprite (Xabi) with the Marquee tool in Fireworks Isolating the sprite There are two easy ways to remove the black background: :*Magic Wand tool: set its Tolerance to a low value and its Edge to 'Hard', then click anywhere in the black area. Hit Delete to erase the selection (suitable for simple-shaped sprites). Selecting and deleting the background with the Magic Wand in Fireworks :*Index transparency: set your program to treat the pure black color (#000000) as transparent. Especially useful for the occasional complex-shaped sprite with many smaller transparent areas inside and outside the shape. Few programs support this on the PNG level (e.g. Fireworks); for most it's available on GIFs only. Exporting the sprite Now that we have that backgroundless, perfectly cropped 48x48px or 48x96px sprite, it's time for export! Just need to make sure that the file is still a transparent PNG. :;Fireworks :*File -> Image Preview (Ctrl+Shift+X) :*Format -> PNG8 (with index transparency, no matte) or PNG32 (no matte). :*Palette -> Exact (if a warning about 256+ colors in PNG8 pops up, choose the PNG32 format in the previous step.) Exporting a PNG of the islated sprite, with index transparency in Fireworks :;Photoshop :*File -> Save for Web & Devices (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S) :*Format -> PNG8 (transparent, no matte) or PNG24 (transparent, no matte). Sprite usage in the Wiki Uploading the sprite The button is almost everywhere on the wiki. Look for it in the right column below the Photos section, or right inside the article editor, under Add Features and Media (also in the right column). You need to be a registered member to upload pics to wikia. Using the sprite in articles :*Character sprite goes into the Statbox template: |sprite=yourspritename.png :*Portrait sprite goes into the Statbox template: |portrait=yourspritename.png :*Item sprite goes into the text body (at the beginning): Related Stuff :*Tutorial: Creating multicolor sprites (coming next) :* :* :* Category:Blog posts